EP #348 - 09.29.2021 - COVID in North Korea

Today I talk about COVID and COVID vaccination in North Korea with my guests Kee Park, C. Yoonhee Ryder, and Nagi Shafik.

Dr. Nagi M. Shafik is a medical doctor with postgraduate degree in Public Health working as a researcher with the Korea Health Policy Project at Harvard Medical School. He has more than 35 years’ experience in both clinical and public health in Egypt, Algeria, Yemen, Cambodia, DPR Korea, India, Indonesia and Thailand. For more than 30 years, he worked overseas with different organizations: UNDP, Health Net International, Medecins Sans Frontiers, The World Health Organization and UNICEF.

From 2001 to 2019, he worked intermittently in DPR Korea for UNICEF and the WHO.  In 2017, 2018 and 2019, he took three assignments with UNICEF DPRK to conduct field monitoring visits.

Yoonhee Ryder is a research assistant for the Korea Health Policy Project at Harvard Medical School. She is a medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School and is currently earning a master’s degree in Clinical Research through the Michigan School of Public Health. She is a former recipient of the State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship to study Korean at Yonsei University, Wonju Campus. Before medical school, Yoonhee served as a Peace Corps health volunteer in Togo, West Africa, and is passionate about global health and global surgery.

Dr. Kee B. Park is the Director of the Korea Health Policy Project at Harvard Medical School where he studies the geopolitical factors influencing health in North Korea and the relationships between international security, health, and human rights and health diplomacy. Since 2007, he has visited North Korea over 20 times to work alongside North Korean doctors as well as to support country driven health system strengthening efforts. His last visit was in November 2019.

He is a member of the National Committee on North Korea and the Council of Korean Americans. He received his MD from Rutgers Medical School and MPH from Harvard Chan School of Public Health.